The candidates are in, and now it's time for you to vote for your favorite image in July's "Algae-Eaters" Photo Contest! Be sure and leave your questions, comments, and constructive criticisms after you vote, too! Here again are this month's entries (refer to the submissions thread for further details on each photo):

And since I put the whole thing together, I get to vote first! My vote went by a slim margin to Magnus for his wonderful picture that represents a combination of great storytelling, spot-on composition, and good technical execution, though a little cleaning up of the distracting spots and specks would have been the icing on the cake. Alex Kawazaki's red fin oto portrait is excellent, too, though I thought the clipping of the dorsal fin behind the frame was a bit distracting (yes, I am that anal!). Otherwise it's an impressive photo for the depth of focus and level of detail it achieves. In the end, though, Magnus's capture of a true "decisive moment" put it over the top for me. I like Marcos's Amano shrimp picture, too, for the very same reason.

Wow, what a great selection of entries for the first contest! My vote went to Magnus because it's just amazing how such an unusual/interesting/amusing moment could get captured with such high photographic quality. But I also want to comment on a few other entries:

- Mine would've been a lot better, of course, if I'd managed to hold the camera steadier in the fraction of time I had to take the pic.

- Stebbi's face-to-face gibby looks nice, although I'm wondering if the discolorations are normal or some sign of health issue with the fish.

- Alex's photo is incredibly crisp for such a small fish, it's really too bad that parts of the fish got cut out or hidden behind a leaf.

- Mogwai's magnum pleco shot is awesome, unfortunately the image is cropped a little too tight around the fish.

- Lula's CAE is textbook Atlas-style photography, and that photo is actually going into the new CAE page in the Gallery section

- I really liked the orange background effect in Cyradia's shot, if only the fish itself had come out sharper...

- dr_fosg8's rubbernose pleco almost got my vote. I would've cropped the image a little though, removing some of the bottom gravel part that doesn't add anything to the composition, and some of the right part so that the fish became centered.

- victor hugo's CAE shot is like mine, it would've been really awesome if it weren't for the blur.

- bash's spotted Chaetostoma is another textbook shot. Maybe we can add that species to the Gallery as well...

- Lmuhlen's and noname's shots are the opposite case, they're focusing right on the most outstanding feature of the bristlenose catfish, but lmuhlen's vertical cropping looks a little bit strange, and noname's pic lacks a little bit of color balance and contrast.

I just hope all contests will have this level of variety and quality! _________________Success with a fish/tank is measured in YEARS, not months or weeks...

Besides an extraordinary sharpness, the Magnus's photo got to capture a magic moment, however I thought a little dark.

2la's photo is my favorite, illumination perfect, beautiful color's contrast, accurate focus on the fish in spite the limited field depth, however the "caudal fin" was cut in the composition (as in my photo) and the dorsal fin was closed. Sometimes the fish doesn't collaborate with the shots...

I also liked details in the photo of Nonamethefish's bristlenose pleco.

A big hug,_________________English isn't my native language and I hopen't to cause any mistake

I think you're being too modest, Alex (and thank you for the vote ). I wouldn't have faulted you one bit if you'd voted for your own image: Like I said, for me it was between yours and Magnus's photo, with Magnus winning out because of the amazing fortune of capturing two magical moments in one shot(). My comment regarding the tip of the dorsal fin was an extremely minor critique, but something that I did notice enough to comment on. I don't think the exclusion of the back half of either of our animals is a flaw in composition but a strong and purposeful one: Had we done so (assuming each fish would have cooperated), I think the subjects would have been de-emphasized due to the increased negative space. I can capture a 'profile-type' image pretty much at any time (since the camera wouldn't need to be so close and since suckermouth catfishes don't often move all that much), but partial captures are sometimes desirable from a more creative and artistic standpoint. It just depends on what effect you're looking for.

A question for you: Do the close-up lenses also increase your depth of focus? Because even for an image at F8, your depth of focus in that image is amazingly deep. Great job on a beautiful photo that I'm sure could qualify for other contests in the future!